NEWS HEADLINES

The primary elections are over, and the (almost) final numbers are known.

But there are still plenty of interesting numbers to be found among the results.

This week, we’ll review two of the most closely-watched races: county judge and Precinct 4 commissioner.

REPUBLICAN BREAKOUT – A closer look at a couple of races from Tuesday’s Republican primary election reveals more detail on how those final results came to be. The chart at left shows the county judge totals broken down by commissioner precinct while the chart below shows how voters in the five individual voting precincts in commissioner Precinct 4 voted in the county commissioner race. Messenger graphic by Jimmy Alford

COUNTY JUDGE

J.D. Clark avoided a runoff by defeating his two challengers in the Republican primary with more than 50 percent of the vote. He was also the top vote-getter in all 25 voting precincts.

Of those 25 precincts, Clark won more than 50 percent of the vote in 19 of them. He was over 60 percent in six precincts (2-7, 2-8, 2-9, 2-11, 2-12 and 3-25). Not surprisingly, his “home” precinct, 2-12 which votes at Chico City Library, gave him the highest percentage of votes with 77 percent.

The vote was closest in Cottondale’s 3-20 precinct. Clark received 35.71 percent, narrowly edging Kyle Stephens who had 34.92 percent of the vote. Keith McComis had 29.37 percent in that precinct.

Stephens’ best showing was in the Cottondale precinct mentioned above and the New Fairview box, Precinct 1-6, with 34.65 percent of the vote.

The Democratic challenger for county judge, Jim Stegall, could have his work cut out for him in November. If everyone who voted for him in the Democratic primary (540) and everyone who voted against Clark in the Republican primary (2,423) were to vote for him in November, he would still be 38 votes short of the 3,001 total votes Clark received in the primary.

PRECINCT 4 COMMISSIONER

Like Clark, Gaylord Kennedy managed to earn more than 50 percent of the vote in a race that featured two other Republican candidates for Precinct 4 commissioner.

Kennedy won each of the five voting precincts in the Precinct 4 commissioner precinct, and won more than 50 percent of the vote in three of them: 4-13, 4-14 and 4-17, the Bridgeport and Paradise boxes. He won the highest percentage of the vote in 4-13 with 83.57 percent. His lowest total came in 4-16 (Boonsville) with 45.2 percent of the vote.

The runner-up, David Stewart, had his strongest showing in 4-15 (Runaway Bay), where he received 37.54 percent of the vote. His weakest showing was 7.98 percent in 4-13.

Incumbent Terry Ross found the most success in Boonsville with 37.77 percent of the vote. Like Stewart, his lowest vote total came in Precinct 4-13.

With contested races for both commissioner and justice of the peace, it was no surprise that Precinct 4 had the highest number of Republican voters among the four commissioner precincts – 1,721.

Democratic challenger Kristina Kemp is in the same situation as Stegall. She received 148 votes in the primary. If she took all of the Ross and Stewart votes in the general election, she’ll need to convince at least 163 more people to vote for her to be the next Precinct 4 commissioner.

The final numbers from Tuesday’s primary elections will not be available until next week after the ballot board meets to determine if 11 provisional ballots will be accepted. The 11 votes are not enough to change the results of any race.